The invention relates to a heddle for warp threads in the form of flat fiber bundles in the shape of a band.
The weaving industry uses so-called weaving shafts or frames for the shed forming, which basically consist of a rectangular frame having vertical side supports and horizontal bars, arranged at a distance to each other, which are called shaft staves. The shaft staves carry heddle support rails in the form of steel rails extending along the shaft staves, wherein these in most cases have an approximately rectangular cross section. Heddles, which sit with their end eyelets on the heddle support bars, are disposed inside these heddle support bars. Each heddle is provided with at least one thread eyelet through which a warp thread extends. If the shafts with heddles are moved vertically up and down, the respective threads are guided out of the warp thread plane and back into this plane.
More and more in recent times, the object is to form sheds with fiber bands, used instead of the normally used warp threads, for example for producing technical textiles and in particular composite fiber materials or high-strength, for example shot-proof textiles. As a rule, the band-shaped warp threads for producing these materials must be worked flat into the textile material, meaning without bunching on the side, wherein the individual fiber bands should furthermore be positioned as close as possible to each other in the textile.
Additional warp threads must furthermore be guided between adjacent heddles, which then pass through the heddles of other weaving shafts and move differently from the initially considered warp threads, wherein sufficient space must also be provided for these warp threads and damage to the warp threads must be prevented.
German Patent document DE-PS 22996 discloses a heddle, consisting of two thin sheet metal strips that are positioned one above the other. The sheet metal strips are bent away from each other in a center section in order to form an eyelet, thereby creating an oval eyelet that is larger in longitudinal heddle direction than in transverse heddle direction. A heddle of this type is not suitable for the weaving with fiber bands.
Based on this, it is the object of the present invention to create a heddle, which can be used for the weaving with fiber bands.